


Magnus Comes Clean

by Majikman



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 18:42:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17167292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Majikman/pseuds/Majikman
Summary: Magnus sits Taako and Merle down and gives them the full story about his amazing wife Julia.





	Magnus Comes Clean

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, so this is my first fic....well, ever. It's not really a fic to me, but this is definitely where it belongs. I hope you enjoy!

(Set after Story and Song)

Magnus comes clean about Julia for the first time. This is much more emotional for him than when he brings her up again during the Eleventh Hour because it is unclear just how much he mentioned to Taako and Merle. It only came up because Magnus saw how happy Merle was with his kids, Taako with Kravitz, Barry with Lup and Carey with Killian.

He calls the other two together. Taako offers to make a picnic, which they eat on the green of the Bureau’s campus grounds, as it were. 

“Guys, I know this briefly came up when June offered us the Cup, but it’s time I came clean…” He actually chuckles, looking quickly down at the ground to prevent the boys from seeing a tear slowly roll down his cheek.

Taako and Merle both look quizzically at Magnus, not exactly sure what he’s talking about. “Come clean about what, my guy? I thought we had put all that shiz behind us.”

“What Taako said. I’m still not happy that you chopped my fucking arm off, but eh,” He shrugs. “You live and you learn.”

“And I was just happy to know that I wasn’t the asshole that poisoned, like, 40 people. It was that fuckboy Sazed.” Taako laughs, tucking a strand of hair behind one of his ears.

Magnus shrugs, smirking to himself as he recalled the stories that the others had regaled him with in regards with the offers they were made to take the Cup. “Look, I don’t think I emphasized this enough, but I was really close to taking my offer, and I guess I should start at the beginning.” He sighs and takes a deep breath, tightly shutting his eyes. 

A few seconds later, he just…breaks down. Anyone else who didn’t know Magnus would have expected him to make a scene, bursting out into tears and crying those big, ugly tears that are only shed during particularly special occasions. In fact, you could say the opposite happens. 

It’s been accepted by the wider community that Magnus is essentially the morale booster of the group. Taako may bring the high energy and Merle the sage-like wisdom (sometimes), but Magnus is the moral compass and shining beacon of hope that keeps the group moving forward. Because of this, the others had never really seen Magnus cry, much less break down in the way that he was right now.

It was as if someone had muted Magnus. No sound is escaping his lips. He has a hand over his mouth and if you looked close enough, you would see tears falling and splashing down on the blades of grass below. The only indication that he was even in distress, other than what was already mentioned, was that his shoulders were hitching. 

Taako sighed and scooted closer to his friend, gently rubbing his back. “It’s okay, Mags. Just let it out, bud…”

They sat in silence like this for about 5 minutes: Magnus having a good cry and Taako consoling him. Merle had a look on his face that was a bit difficult to decipher at first glance. It was a combination of empathy, remembering the difficult divorce from Hekuba, sadness, from watching his friend in so much distress, but even a little bit of anger, for allowing the world to curse what was obviously the best example of the good of humanity, with the death of the one closest to him, the person that Magnus had chosen to spend the rest of his life with.

After this time had passed, the strangest thing happened. When Magnus finally lifted his head, he still had tears trailing down his face. The thing that surprise his friends was that he didn’t look upset anymore. In fact, he was grinning. Not the type of grin that he normally wore when he was rushing in and saving the day. Not the grin that he would wear when he played with his dogs or hung out with his buds. This was a grin of reverence, the kind you have when you’re remembering the good times.

“Mags?” Taako asked, slightly confused. “You okay bud?”

Magnus turned to Taako. “I’ve never been better. Now, back to my story.” He replied as he reached down and used the red handkerchief he always wore around his neck to clean up his face a bit.   
“I…well fellas, we’re not exactly the shining beacon of what it means to be in a normal relationship,” He chuckles. “And nothing about my relationship with Julia, my wife, was…is, anything but normal.” Magnus smiles as he looks down through the windows of the moonbase out over Faerun.

“When I say that Julia Waxmen was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen when she first walked into the Hammer & Tongs, I don’t mean that just in the way she looked. I like to joke that because of my Rustic Hospitality that I get along with people well and that I’m a good judge of character. Fellas, I think that last bit is pretty much true. I could tell from the moment that I first laid eyes on her that she was magnificent, inside and out. It was also that moment that I knew that she would always be way out of my league.”

He sighs and runs a hand through his hair and then through his sideburns as he thinks to himself. “Before I met Julia, as far back as I could remember, when my mind was still wiped thanks to Fisher, of course, I had never really considered myself to be a romantic. I mean that in the way that I didn’t really think about dating, or even getting married. I knew that I liked making chairs…and ducks, and that I would open my own store one day, but I didn’t really consider having someone else at my side. From the moment I first spoke to her, I knew that Julia was going to be that person for me.”  
“I know how we generally feel about love at first sight, and that it’s not really love. That wasn’t really what it was for me. It was more of…an acceptance, I guess? I’m not really sure how to put it. I knew that she was definitely going to play an important role in my life. I just hadn’t really figured what that was going to be just yet.”

“I’m not the best with words, but I do know, in my gut, that ‘love’ was …is not a strong enough word to describe my feelings for Julia. She was, in every sense of the word, my other half, my soulmate. Everything that made me who I was, she complimented every single aspect. That doesn’t mean that we weren’t different people; We absolutely were. But it just means that we were able to do something fairly quickly that it takes some couples decades to figure out how to do, and that is being able to set aside our differences and learn to accept each other truly and completely, despite our faults and baggage, which I know we all have a shit ton of.”

“Every single day, I look at you and Krav,” He turns to look at Taako as he says this. “And I see someone that not only completed you but helped you to figure out what makes you Taako.” Magnus smiles. “It didn’t matter that you two nearly killed each other.” Taako laughs at this. “Or that there was the possibility that you were a mass murderer, which, thank Istus you’re not. But my point is, you two found each other when you needed the other most, just like with Julia and I. And no matter what obstacles you two faced, like, you know, the world ending, that didn’t stop you two from growing closer in your love for each other, and I will always love you for that.” 

Taako at this point is laughing and crying, but of course, he’s trying to keep it hidden as best as he can.

Then Magnus turns to Merle and gives him a sad smile. “Merle, I know that you kind of had, you know, a shitty marriage.” Merle chuckles and nods. “But look what came from it: two beautiful children that have accomplished so much, and I know that you think you’re a shitty father and, well, you kind of were. But what makes you an amazing father is that you didn’t let past mistakes stop you. You woke up one day and decided that you wanted to be a father to your children, and you have no idea how much of a man that makes you. Because most fathers that start out in your situation just bail because it’s too hard. It’s just too much effort, and it would be better to just run away and forget it ever happened. Granted you were busy saving the world at the time, but you somehow made time to reconnect with your kids while doing that. That’s…bud, I can’t even put that into words. And I know I’ve been on a bit of a streak here, but I truly mean everything I said. You are the most wonderful father and friend a guy could ask for. If I ever had kids, I only wish they could have turned out to be half as great as yours.”

Merle is doing less good of a job hiding his tears this time.

“I was in a dark place when Julia died, guys, and the whole joke that we made of ‘Oh, Magnus rushes in,’ well…that wasn’t completely because I’m such a nice guy who’s willing to risk his life to help and protect others. Although that was certainly a part of it. I…well, a small part of me hoped that I would go out in a blaze of glory and that I would be reunited with the love of my life.” Magnus does nothing to hide the tears as they come this time. “I would fight to the death…” He chokes up a bit here, unable to speak for a second, but quickly regains his composure. “I would fight to the death to make sure that every single one of my friends that have found their significant other gets to keep them, and that nobody ever has to lose someone as I did.”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “What I’m trying to say guys is that I wanted you to know the full story about my wife, and why I was so close to taking that deal with the Cup. I would be lying if I said I would give anything to be with her again, but not if meant forgetting about you guys, the Bureau, everything that we’ve been through. I will never find someone like Julia, and I hate to say it, but I don’t want to go looking for someone to be happy with. I’m so lucky to be granted with so many happy relationships around me that I can just soak up all of the love like a giant love sponge.” This gets a chuckle out of the others. “Thank you guys, for always being there for me.” Then he looks up at the moon, the real moon, and smiled. “I love you, Jules.”

What Magnus didn’t know was that there was a spectral shape floating next to the trio. Its thick, dark brown hair floated out behind it, its dark skin would have once shone under sunlight, but now it was more difficult to discern under direct sunlight what color its skin used to be. Its bright blue eyes were full of tears as they streamed down the figure’s face. The last thing we see is the figure lean down and press its ghostly lips against Magnus’s forehead, and remains there for a few seconds. As the figure stands up straight, it wipes its face with the back of its hand and smiles. “I love you too, Maggie.”


End file.
